A savings account for 18 yrs??

jordan_gibson

My little one is two and a half now and I have some money that I would like to stick away safe and sound for when he is older.

I do not want him to be able to access the money until he is 21 so this would be locked away for the best part of 18 years. Is there anything out there that would suit this?

Thanks

chesky369

As you can't have an ISA for a child, the only thing that would lock up the money would be a pension - and that would be a lot longer than 18 years. Why don't you just open a savings account for him and keep quiet about it.

benood

Hi Jordan - one option would be to put the money into his child trust fund - I think you can pay in up to £1200 pa over and above the initial £250 that Gordon dishes out. The drawback would be that he could access it at 18 and manage it from 16. Over such a long time have you thought about stocks and shares - you can invest the CTF into that sort of thing.

Alternatively put the money into your own ISA for this year and earmark it for him when he's 21.

ReportInvestor

jordan_gibson wrote:

I do not want him to be able to access the money until he is 21

I don't think this is legal, and is probably why no bank or BS offers it.

Harpenden 18 Club mirrors the CTF in that money cannot be accessed until the 18th birthday.

Another option, apart from keeping quiet and / or looking after the money yourself (which is not so advantageous tax wise nor best practice) would be to stick it in a five year bond around their 16th birthday.

Some have very heavy restrictions - especially the Julian Hodge 5 Year Capital Millennium Bond which does not allow any early access.

National Savings also do a children's 5 year bond available up to their 16th birthday but the interest rate is currently a very poor 4.25% (although parental contributions up to £3K do not attract tax - which can be an advantage in the 16-17 period and if your child is a taxpayer 18-21.

Check what's on offer nearer the time.

But if you aren't using your own ISA allowance, I'd endorse benood's ISA suggestion.